Admit it Packer fans. You wanted JJ Watt.

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted him too. We were all fooled into believing that, for some reason, JJ Watt would give the Green Bay Packers some sort of hometown discount.

Instead, I can imagine General Manager Brian Gutekunst getting on the phone with JJ’s agent and then immediately hanging up when the agent told him how much money Watt wanted.

The Packers never really had a chance.

Internet sleuths had been trying to figure out Watt’s cryptic posts on social media, in an effort to get a leg up any way they could on trying to figure out where the former All-Pro defensive lineman was headed. Instead, Watt broke the news himself by tweeting out a picture of himself in an Arizona Cardinals shirt.

Watt is signing with Arizona for a deal worth two years and $31 million. $23 million of that money is guaranteed over the course of the next two seasons.

Many fans thought the Packers were in it based off what criteria Watt himself supposedly listed for teams he wanted to go to. His reported criteria was a team with an established quarterback, potential contenders and cap space.

The Packers checked off two out of the three of those boxes. Those of us who follow Green Bay know that the organization is still searching for ways to get under the cap.

So should we really be surprised that Watt chose somewhere other than Green Bay? No.

Again, the Packers probably were never really a contender based off money alone. But what’s surprising is it was reported that Watt had better offers on the table, but still chose to go to the Arizona Cardinals.

He must really believe in Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins and Kliff Kingsbury.

Instead of joining the green and yellow, he will instead get to play them again this upcoming season. After getting beaten down last year with the Texans, Watt will hopefully experience that same feeling this season.

I’m looking forward to it.

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Gunnar Davis is a lifelong Packers fan and a recent graduate of Simpson College, where he was a 3-year letterwinner on the offensive line and graduated with a degree in multimedia communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @Gunnar57Davis.

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